2 sites won't open in browser 1

[jmbv]

I'm working on a computer for someone who cannot open amazon.com or ebay.com in his browser (IE or FireFox--doesn't matter which I try). For ebay, I sent him a link to an arbitrary item, and he can then navigate Home and search and so on. But he has to open the site through an odd link like that. Trying the same thing did not work for Amazon. Those are the only 2 sites we've come across that won't work. I'm not sure if it's a security setting or some kind of antivirus conflict, etc. Appreciate any input!

 

[smah]

Check the content of the hosts file. If that's not it, what error is reported or what happens when he tries to visit one of those sites?

 

[Diancecht]

Maybe some kind of malware behind that redirection. I'd recommend a full scan.

Cheers,
Dian

 

[jmbv]

thanks, i'll check these out -- the error that comes up is just the usual server not found, page cannot be displayed message.

 

[stduc]

That is usually caused by an entry in the hosts file pointing that URL back to 127.0.0.1

 

[stduc]

Try deleting the cookies if you can identify them - or failing that all cookies.

Just a thought.

 

[cmeagan656]

Also try deleting all temporary internet files.

Cheers.

 

[jmbv]

should everything in the hosts file come out other than the local host line? there are a lot of entries in this file for 127.0.0.1. amazon and ebay are both there.

 

[smah]

Anything you want to visit that's listed as 127.0.0.1 should be removed. FWIW, 127.0.0.1 is the 'loopback' address - it means your local computer. So, when you tried to visit

http://www.ebay.com

your system was looking for it on your local computer & obviously couldn't find it. The reason the linked ebay item worked, it because the linked url was something like

http://cgi.ebay.com/

which probably isn't in your hosts file.

It's possible that these entries were created by a virus or worm, so it would be a good idea to let a couple of these free online virus scanners do their thing faq760-3862

 

[jmbv]

thanks so much everybody... problem solved.